Illinois has a domestic migration problem. The state is losing too many people. Illinois has lost more people to other states than it gained in every single year since 1985 . And in every year, the people who left earned more money than the people who entered. The Internal Revenue Service released new migration data...
On Tuesday, Chicago’s City Council’s joint committee on License and Consumer Protection and Transportation and Public Way passed a deeply flawed proposal to regulate the pedicab industry after hours of largely opposing testimony. On Wednesday, the measure passed the full City Council without any changes, showing that Chicago is neither serious about promoting “green” transportation...
Not only does the White House overstate the potential benefits of increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour – but it also fails to mention that there would be fewer people working. According to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, 16 million Americans – not the White House’s reported 28 million...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a gain of 288,000 payroll jobs nationally for the month of April, better than consensus expectations of a gain of 218,000. The national jobless rate dropped to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent. The month-over-month gain in payroll jobs was the best since January 2012. However, the entire decline in...
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is calling for a $750 million property tax increase on Chicago residents over the next five years in his recent pension proposal. And his proposed “reform” plan covers only the city’s municipal and laborers pension funds. That doesn’t include whatever tax increases he’s got planned to fund the pensions of teachers,...
With everyone arguing about the minimum wage, taxes and pension reforms, many people may not realize the most important battle Illinois’ next governor will face: negotiating the state’s largest government union contract. Whoever is elected governor will be stuck with a partisan and bitter legislature, making his ability to push through bold legislative reforms extremely...
According to newly released Harvard study, Americans ages 18-29 are losing trust in government. Since just 2010, trust in major government institutions declined by 8 percent among Americans ages 18-29. Not one major government institution in the poll achieved a level of trust of 50 percent or above. The poll revealed more than just a...
Media outlets across Illinois are trumpeting the “surge” in ObamaCare enrollments during March, as well as the “extended” enrollment period during the first half of April. But to see the reality behind the ObamaCare enrollments, one needs to dig deeper than the Obama administration’s press release. Instead of counting people who have actually paid for...
State Rep. Chapa LaVia’s constituents oppose her efforts to limit school choice. The representative has launched a full-scale assault on school choice this legislative session, sponsoring more than a half dozen bills that would limit the growth of charter schools and put strict limits on digital learning. Two – House Bill 3754 and House Bill...
Chicago alderman recently passed a deeply flawed ordinance that that arbitrarily limits the number of pedicabs and forbids their operation in a significant portion of downtown. These new rules are hitting drivers hard, and limiting their ability to make a living. Without a change, many drivers could be out of business. Show your support for...
You’re not signed up unless you pay. And in Illinois, half of ObamaCare “enrollees” haven’t paid for their premium. That puts the Land of Lincoln well below the national average. Nationwide, just 67 percent of those the Obama administration counted as “enrolled” in the Affordable Care Act had paid their premiums as of April 15,...
In one in five U.S. families, no one has a job. Not mom. Not dad. Not grandma or grandpa. No one. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2013, there were nearly 81 million families in the United States. Of that number, about 16 million families reported that nobody in their household had a...
Gallup released a stunning poll that shows 50 percent of Illinoisans want to leave the state, the highest percentage of any state nationally. This comes a week after Illinois’ worst-in-the nation performance in a Gallup poll that showed one in four Illinoisans consider Illinois to be the worst possible place to live. If Illinois government...
45. April 30, 2014 Sun-Times: Criminal probe of Quinn anti-violence plan rocks governor’s race A criminal grand jury has launched a probe into Gov. Pat Quinn’s troubled anti-violence program — once likened to “a political slush fund” — delivering a major blow to the Democrat as he seeks re-election this fall. On Tuesday, the Quinn...